Match-fixing news summary: UEFA scrutinise U19 Bulgaria v Portugal match and outline new anti match-fixing proposals

This week's recap features good practice initiatives undertaken by UEFA – Europe’s football confederation – including the introduction of the "Nation's League" competition to replace international friendly matches. These matches, also called "friendlies" can be vulnerable to match-fixing because the outcome of the match does not impact a team's competitive standing. This might make team members more willing to lose the match on purpose, or may require different oversight regulations than competition events.

Current Investigation

Bulgaria

UEFA has begun a match-fixing investigation into the European Championship Under 19 game between Bulgaria and Portugal. The match was played in June 2013 and ended with a comprehensive 7-0 win for Portugal. Representatives of UEFA made a three-day visit to Bulgaria, where they held interviews with some of the players who played in the game, according to Bulgaria's Daily Trud. They also met with the security officer in the Bulgarian Football Union Dimitar Hristov. He had reported the match to UEFA in the first instance after it became clear from betting volumes that there were unusually high stakes for the number of goals to be scored and the win margin.

Source: Alexander Krassimirov, "UEFA investigators scrutinise U19 Bulgaria v Portugal match", 26 March 2014, Inside World Football https://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/europe/14366-uefa-investigators-scrutinise-u19-bulgaria-v-portugal-match

Portugal

UEFA has begun a match-fixing investigation into the European Championship Under 19 game between Bulgaria and Portugal. The match was played in June 2013 and ended with a comprehensive 7-0 win for Portugal. Representatives of UEFA made a three-day visit to Bulgaria, where they held interviews with some of the players who played in the game, according to Bulgaria's Daily Trud. They also met with the security officer in the Bulgarian Football Union Dimitar Hristov. He had reported the match to UEFA in the first instance after it became clear from betting volumes that there were unusually high stakes for the number of goals to be scored and the win margin.

Source: Alexander Krassimirov, "UEFA investigators scrutinise U19 Bulgaria v Portugal match", 26 March 2014, Inside World Football https://www.insideworldfootball.com/world-football/europe/14366-uefa-investigators-scrutinise-u19-bulgaria-v-portugal-match

United Kingdom

Five men will appear in court to enter pleas in connection with a National Crime Agency inquiry into alleged match-fixing. Former footballers Michael Boateng and Hakeem Adelakun, both 22, together with 24-year-old Moses Swaibu are accused alongside Chann Sankaran, 33, and Krishna Sanjey Ganeshan, 43, both originally from Singapore, with taking part in a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers. The men are set to appear at Birmingham Crown Court today for a plea hearing. Boateng, of Davidson Road, Croydon and Adelakun, of Mayfield Crescent, Thornton, have been sacked by Conference South side Brighton-based Whitehawk FC since the allegations surfaced and are set to appear in the dock with fellow Conference South player Swaibu of Tooley Street in Bermondsey, London.

Source: "Footballers on match-fixing charges", 25 March 2014, Press Association https://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/uk/footballers-on-match-fixing-charges-1.285274

United Kingdom

Three footballers arrested in connection with a probe into match-fixing in non-league English football denied bribery charges on Tuesday and will stand trial in May. Michael Boateng, Hakeem Adelakun and Moses Swaibu all pleaded not guilty at Birmingham Crown Court in central England to one count of bribery and another of plotting to commit bribery. They are alleged to have conspired together with Krishna Ganeshan and Chann Sankaran, both originally from Singapore, who have both pleaded not guilty to three counts of bribery and one of conspiracy to commit bribery. The alleged offences took place between November 1 and November 27 last year. All five defendants will stand trial together at Birmingham Crown Court on May 19. The trial is expected to last up to five weeks. Boateng and Adelakun, both 22, and Swaibu, 24, played for the sixth-tier club Whitehawk FC from the southeast English coastal resort of Brighton. They were all granted unconditional bail. Ganeshan and Sankaran have been remanded in custody.

Source: "Trio deny English match-fixing charges", 25 March 2014, AFP https://news.yahoo.com/trio-deny-english-match-fixing-charges-192627865--sow.html